The Barnstable School Committee approved the purchase of seven new buses this week while at the same time discussing the merits of creating an in-house transportation system.

Supt. Dr. Patricia Grenier told the committee at their March 8 meeting that the district is currently exploring the option of in-house transportation either through the development of its own transportation facility, or by sharing a facility with the town.

Grenier asked the committee to consider conducting a study on land behind the district’s current maintenance and bus building.

The study would determine the feasibility of paving over an athletic practice field at Barnstable High School for use as a parking area for buses should the district move to an in-house system.

Grenier said that she would like to see approximately $25,000 spent on a groundwater study to discern whether the creation of such an area would be allowed.

It is Grenier’s hope, should the study results come back favorably, that the development of an in-house transportation system would ultimately save the district thousands of dollars in contract fees in the future.

In the meantime, the committee approved the lease-purchase of seven new buses for the district’s Special Education transportation.

“Last year we went to a municipal lease-to-own [system],” said transportation head Sandy Gifford. “It’s much more advantageous for us. At the end, instead of turning them in every three years, we now get to keep them for the five, and there’s a value at the end of the five years.”

Gifford said that because the purchase warranties have been greatly improved in recent years, when buses are turned in at the end of the leasing period, the department gets money back for use in the purchase of new buses.

Further discussion of in-house transportation is expected at a future school committee meeting.